Journalist. Mother. Bunny enthusiast. Pop culture junkie.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

First, I want to thank everyone who e-mailed me about doing guest posts. I'm really excited about the guest post series because I have such a variety of bloggers lined up. The topics are pretty random, which I absolutely adore.

If you're still interested in doing a guest post, feel free to e-mail me.

The first guest post will run on Friday.

Now, on to a fun little blogging project:

10 days of blogging

I stole this from my friend Julie, who stole it from her friend and I’m sure we’ll all be tired of it before I even finish the ten days worth. Here is how it works, you blog 10 days on the following topics:

Day One: Ten things you want to say to ten different people right now.Day Two: Nine things about yourself that most people don't know.Day Three: Eight things you couldn't live without.Day Four: Seven things that cross your mind a lot.Day Five: Six things you wish you could change or you wish you’d never done.Day Six: Five people who mean a lot to youDay Seven: Four turn offs.Day Eight: Three turn onsDay Nine: Two words that describe your life right now.Day Ten: One confession.

So here goes …

Day 1: 10 things I want to say to 10 different people

1. Don't be surprised that I'm not calling you back, because you've proven to be completely psychotic.

2. I never realized how much your friendship meant to me until you were gone. I wish I could relive each second.

3. Your behavior this year has made me even more ashamed that we ever dated. Please stop stalking my friends.

4. It kills me that we don't see eye-to-eye on the major aspects of life and I've treated you unfairly because of it. I hope you forgive me before it's too late.

5. It worries me that you only attract douchebags. It scares me that you don't seem to care.

6. I was so blinded by our friendship that it took your recent actions for me to finally discover why nobody likes you. You're an ugly person inside and out.

7. Sometimes I can't figure out if you're a genius or simply a conceited idiot.

8. I have been a horrible friend and I truly apologize.

9. Whenever I'm depressed, I always wonder if my life would have turned out better if we had ended up together.

10. I've spent most of my life being envious of you. I wish I could love myself just as much.

Monday, September 27, 2010

I can't give you any details, unfortunately, but I need to put the news out there so you understand why I have been so out-of-touch lately. I feel incredibly scatter-brained and I have so much to do in the next few months. I never imagined that I would be so incredibly stressed out and busy now, unemployed, than I ever was when I had a full-time job. I guess you could say that my preparations for February are like a full-time job.

I don't like these long period of absences on my blog that occasionally occur. Until I save up enough money for a netbook or laptop, I don't really have much of a chance to spend long periods of time writing blogs every day.

In that case, I have a proposition for you, my dear bloggy friends: I need guest posters. You can write about anything you want. Seriously. Anything. (As long as it's not cruel or offensive.)

I will still be posting, but I want to fill the gaps with awesomeness, rather than nothingness.

E-mail me if you are interested. You will find my contact information on my profile.

Friday, September 24, 2010

It seems I am fortunate enough to be able to counteract my horrible movie review with a positive one.

A couple days ago, my friend Alexia and I saw the film, "The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond," starring Bryce Dallas Howard.

This film is based on a recently discovered play by Tennessee Williams. It revolves around Memphis debutante Fisher Willow, the disliked daughter of a corrupt plantation owner in the 1920s. Free-spirited Fisher is desperately unhappy and unsatisfied with life. Out of love and her own social awkwardness, she hires a ruggedly handsome farmhand, Jimmy, to be her escort for the elaborate party season. All hell breaks loose when she discovers one of her priceless heirlooms is missing at a party.

If you have been reading my blog long enough, then you already know of my utter admiration for Bryce Dallas Howard. So, it should be no surprise to you that I declare her absolute perfection in this movie.

The natural red-head is stunning as the raven-haired, feisty society girl, Fisher. Had this film been made 50 or 60 years ago, a young 20-something-year-old Elizabeth Taylor would have been PERFECT in the role. But for our generation, Bryce is the next best thing. She gives Fisher such subtle depth, that you're shocked to discover that your wariness of Fisher in the beginning of the film turns to esteem and protectiveness by the end. You gradually realize that Fisher is the only character in the movie worthy of your affection.

Plus, the 1920s fashion in the film is amazing. I seriously wished I owned every dress, coat, and piece of glamorous jewelry Bryce wore during the film. It took my breath away.

The overall acting is also phenomenal. Chris Evans, who plays Jimmy, glosses over his eye-candy status by balancing the fine line between an honest hero and obnoxious douchebag.

An aspect of the film, which perplexed me, was that there are several loose ends in the storyline. Many things are brought up, which are never explained. A couple scenes in the film have nothing to do with anything. But I realized this was also the case of The Glass Menagerie, so therefore it is probably just Tennessee William's style. But I found these little unexplained fragments mostly just added to the mysterious atmosphere and also makes the viewer feel like they abruptly came into these people's lives and are in no place to question the past.

Here is a photo of Bryce from the premiere of "The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond."

(Doesn't Bryce look beautiful? I wasn't a big fan of the dress, so I cropped it, haha, but I think she looks absolutely FABULOUS with her cascading dark locks).

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Life with a decade-old laptop sucks balls. Sorry to be graphic, but it does.

Being without a computer to write, blog, or stalk my boyfriend's exes has left me kind of depressed. I sat around all day in front of the television, eating chocolate and watching old episodes of Project Runway. I also managed to sneak a movie in the morning, but it was so awful, it made me even more depressed.

Which sucks, because I had already decided to do a blog post about it. Since I don't want to write another "woe is me" post, I'm going to review the movie anyway.

I grabbed the movie, "Going Shopping" from the library because, well, wouldn't you?

It had a few good reviews on the cover. It had a cute photo. And how could any movie about shopping be...bad?

I will explain how, but here is a summary of the film first:

The film revolves around Holly G, a successful boutique owner, who discovers she will lose her store if she doesn't come up with $40,000 in one weekend for rent she owes. And why hasn't this 40-something-year-old store owner been paying her rent? Because she has a slimy old boyfriend who handles all her business and had been using her rent money to purchase her extravagant jewelry. She dumps him, of course, and has a 30% off sale that weekend to come up with the money by Monday. Oh, and that weekend she also meets a "hottie" who is like 15 years younger than her and has an equal obsession with fashion.

There are so many things wrong with this movie, I don't even know where to begin.

This is a film which came out in 2005. The internet is referenced. There are cell phones.

But all the women in the film are decked out in generic clothing that look straight out of a spring 1992 Sears catalog.

Plus, all the clothes in Holly's boutique are equally bland and boring. Silky plain blouses are $300. Dresses are $400. We're not talking about designer clothing here.

A major fault of the movie, which I found kind of insulting, was the depiction of Holly's customers. Shopaholics in the film are shown as estrogen-soaked housewives who walk into stores with high-pitched squeals and automatically start complimenting every stranger in sight on her outfit. They even help pick out each other's clothes! Am I shopping in the wrong places? Do people do this in real life?

The main character herself is excruciatingly annoying. Holly, played by Victoria Foyt, has a horrible haircut and a high-pitched voice and an obnoxious laugh.

Her suitor, Miles, is just as bad. When he first meets Holly, he's immediately taken with her "fabulous ensemble." He even asks her to twirl, he's so amazed. The 20-something-year-old breaks up with his attractive, younger girlfriend hours after becoming bewitched with Holly. The young bohemian stud woos his older crush while wearing a "Free Tibet" t-shirt and using these exact words: "Let's hook up at Starbucks around 6 p.m. and see where the night takes us." Holly, of course, finds that totally hot.

And while all this awkwardness is going on, horrible cheesy jazz music keeps playing in the background.

The lyrics to the theme song are: "I went window shopping in your eyes and found a heart in just my size."

Not kidding.

While I intensely disliked this indulgent movie, I did appreciate one factor:

It is a film which explores the female psyche in regards to shopping. The director, Henry Jaglom, shows us that shopping is more profound than people think. It gives people a sense of identity and has the ability to heal us when we're sad or make us feel better about ourselves.

I just wish it had been a lot better. With different actors. Different clothing. Different plot.

Anyway, I totally do not recommend this film. It will make you wish you had actually been going shopping instead.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

A lot of you may not know this, but I am going to be extremely famous one day.

Perhaps as a movie star. Perhaps as a rock star. Or, perhaps as a youtube video phenomenon. I'm not sure yet.

Some of you may be shocked because you didn't know I was striving for such a heightened goal. Others of you may be shocked simply because you thought I was already famous. Am I right?

I don't want you all to worry. When I become a SUPERSTAR, I will definitely remember who my real friends are. You can still write me and I'll respond. I might even send you tickets to my big show or movie premiere or whatever. I'll still be ME.

Anyways, in light of my revelation, I thought I would share with you some exciting photos: what celebrities looked like before they were famous. Yay?

We all know what I look like now, in my pre-fame years:

I'm such hot stuff now, I can't even imagine what I'm going to look like once my high-profile hair stylist and famous makeup artist get their hands on me.

Probably something like this:

(But that's just a modest guess).

Anyways, on to the stars!

Ashley Greene

Before she was a bad ass vampire in the Twilight series, Ashley was simply the hottest girl at her high school. With this school photo, it's no wonder the Florida beauty queen quickly rose to stardom.

Megan Fox

Before Megan turned herself into a Hollywood sexpot, she was just a goofy-looking Catholic schoolgirl from Tennessee. Do you like her unibrow?

Taylor Lautner

Better bod, same boyish charm. Smouldering glances were Taylor's speciality even before he hit puberty.

Brad Pitt

Nothing says sex symbol more than Brad Pitt in the late 1980s.

Jon Hamm

Before he was the sexy, mysterious Don Draper, the Mad Men actor was the star of his Missouri high school's football team. Um, yummy!

And finally...

Katy Perry

Before she sang about kissing girls, Katy Perry was known as Katy Hudson, a Christian singer inspired by God. A far cry from the raven-haired seductress we know today, huh?

Monday, September 13, 2010

Sometimes in order to learn more about yourself, you have to understand your generation. No matter who you are as a person, you tend to have similar values, attitudes and worldviews of everyone else in your generation, because let's face it, you can't help the year you were born.

My parents, despite their different personalities, share a similar outlook on life because of their generation, the Baby Boomers. Drugs don't phase them--they've seen their share in the 60s and 70s, they have seen racial tensions explode and fade away, and they know the value of a dollar because they had to earn it.

And now, as a 26-year-old, I'm finally starting to understand my own generation: The Millennials. We were born between 1980 and 2000. We are the first generation to come of age in the new millennium.

There have been hundreds of studies and articles written about us in the past ten years. Some make me laugh. Some make me cringe. Some piss me off.

We seem to be ridiculed in the media as lazy, dependent, and unrealistic.

But before I get to that, here are some facts about the Millennial generation put together by Pew Research Center.

Millennials are:

- They are the most ethnically and racially diverse cohort of youth in the nation's history. Among those ages 13 to 29: 18.5% are Hispanic; 14.2% are black; 4.3% are Asian; 3.2% are mixed race or other; and 59.8%, a record low, are white.

- They are starting out as the most politically progressive age group in modern history. In the 2008 election, Millennials voted for Barack Obama over John McCain by 66%-32%, while adults ages 30 and over split their votes 50%-49%. In the four decades since the development of Election Day exit polling, this is the largest gap ever seen in a presidential election between the votes of those under and over age 30.

- They are the first generation in human history who regard behaviors like tweeting and texting, along with websites like Facebook, YouTube, Google and Wikipedia, not as astonishing innovations of the digital era, but as everyday parts of their social lives and their search for understanding.

- They are the least religiously observant youths since survey research began charting religious behavior.

(This may be what Millennials look like in their natural habitat)

According to numerous psychologists, historians, and journalists, my generation is filled with ignorant tweens and 20-nothings. We were coddled as children and way too over-protected. Forget walking to school, our parents drove us or bought us cars at 16. Not many of us had after-school jobs (those don't get us into college). When it comes to sports, everyone was a winner! Most of us got our first cell phone in high school (some of the younger Millennials got them in elementary school). We text instead of call. We facebook instead of write letters. We have no idea why our parents feared Russia, because for us, the Middle East has been nothing but a war zone and terrorist hotbed our whole lives. We live at home until we're 30 because why not? When we move out, we prefer to live with our partners instead of marry them. Most of us won't keep the same job for more than ten years at a time.

No wonder the baby boomers and Generation X-ers despise us.

But what the older generations don't realize is that they are the reason we are who we are.

They didn't think it was safe for us to walk to school. They bought us a cell phone. They raised us.

And yes, we can be super annoying with our texting and our blogging and our digital music, but our generation has the potential to be one of the greatest in history.

We are an extremely socially conscious generation. How many other generations can brag that they grew up networking with people all over the world before they were 30? We are. We know what is going on all over the world as it happens. We accept other cultures without questions. Racism is becoming a thing of the past as the human race keeps merging into a beautiful multi-cultural and multi-racial rainbow. Every decade, we are becoming so medically and technologically advanced, our generation may very well have the ability to find a cure and prevention for cancers and other normally fatal diseases.

I think that's pretty damn cool.

So...what do you think of Millennials? Saving the world? Or ruining it?

PS. There are even workshops and guidelines for companies on how to deal with millennials in the workplace.
Read this article, it's hilarious. My favorite excerpt: "Encourage the millennial's self-assuredness, 'can-do' attitude, and positive personal self-image. Millennials are ready to take on the world. Their parents told them they can do it - they can. Encourage - don't squash them or contain them." Enough said!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Rian recently turned 30, so I took my strapping Irish-Native American boyfriend on a road trip as a birthday treat. We ended up in a small Irish town, Weston, Missouri, which was founded in 1837. The small historical town is the perfect getaway for any couple or family.

We kicked off the evening with dinner at an 1847 Irish pub. The little cabin was lit with oil lamps. Since it was a rainy week day, Rian and I were the only ones there.

Then, we walked around town, hand-in-hand, stopping in the antique stores and admiring the scenery.

(This is the town's actual police station. I felt like Barney Fife would come running out any minute).

Overall, it was a lovely trip and a romantic birthday celebration. I wanted to do something out of the ordinary for Rian, since turning 30 is a milestone and he has been kind of depressed about it.

PS. I finally got wireless in my apartment, but it works on everyone's laptop except MINE. Huh. So, we're having a technician come back to the apartment on Monday so he can figure out how to install wireless onto my eight-year-old piece of crap laptop. Sigh. There's always something, isn't there?

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

We spent Labor Day weekend being awesome. We had an awesome time. We drank awesome shooters, listened to awesome music, and just sat around and soaked up each other's awesomeness.

Oh, and we visited a few of our artist friends who had galleries opening too.

Art Gallery Hopping

Top Ten Awesome Things about J&K Art Gallery Hopping:

10. Getting drunk and running into people we had hoped to avoid.9. Accidentally ordering an actual bucket of rum at a gay bar.8. Scaring poor, poor Craig with our outbursts of love.7. Violently fighting over Craig.6. Bumping into a college friend I haven't seen in six years.5. Kerrie telling that friend I am engaged (I'm not).4. Me going along with it because I think it's hilarious.3. Crashing a party we weren't invited to, where we dirty danced, tossed around arrogant insults to hot guys, drank all their beer, and then left abruptly.2. Detouring to the emergency room for a few hours because of a weird incident.1. Waking up the next morning to several texts from old college friends, congratulating me on my non-existent engagement.

The following night was much more tame.

Sleepover Night

Top Ten Awesome Things About Sleepover Night with J&K

10. Watching Beverly Hills 90210 while eating junk food.9. Makeovers!!8. Running around outside at 2 a.m.7. Running around outside at 2 a.m. wearing sunglasses and giggling.6. Eating chocolate ice cream until our stomachs hurt.5. Gossiping like middle-schoolers.4. Kerrie teaching me new hairstyles.3. Looking through Kerrie's awesome textbooks for her fashion design class.2. We may or may not have done prank calls.1. Making more awesome plans for the future.

I hope all of you are having an AWESOME week! (Too much awesomeness? Shut up, you love it!)

Saturday, September 4, 2010

It seems every year I lose a close friend to geography. Last year, my friend Jonny deserted me for Dallas. This week, Meredith deserted me for...China.

I am very sad that she left. She has been a close friend of mine for the past three years. We were both the youngest reporters at our newspaper and immediately became friends upon meeting.

She has a classy yet unique sense of style (as you can see from these photos) and a really upbeat attitude, which always put a smile on my face whenever I was sad.

We are the same height and weight (well, before I ballooned, haha) so that made shopping at the mall during our lunch breaks a lot of fun!

She is very easy to get along with so she instantly became good friends with my friends.

Meredith moved to China to be near her family. Her parents are university professors and they will be teaching over there. Her siblings are moving there as well. While I am sad she is gone, I am excited for all the adventures she will have overseas.

Knowing Meredith, she will gain new friends very quickly. Her sweet personality and instant ability to connect with strangers are qualities I always envied.

Hopefully our goodbye is not forever. She plans to visit me in the future and if I'm lucky, I may go visit her in China some day.

Plus, she plans to start a blog about her adventures. When she does, I will definitely give you the link. She's an amazing writer and has an adorable sense of humor. I'm surprised she isn't a blogger already!

Well, now you know about my friend. :) Only a week left before I finally get internet in my apartment! And I will be blogging all the time!